Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Top Romney Adviser Wants $2.00 Plus Hike in Gas Tax

As the price of gasoline soars, top Mitt Romney adviser, Harvard economist Greg Mankiw sticks to his guns and calls for a hike in gasoline taxes. In a recent blog post, Mankiw points to a WaPo column which states:

N. Gregory Mankiw, former top economic adviser to President George W. Bush and current adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, also backs a stiff gas tax increase... In a New York Times column this year, Mr. Mankiw offered a tax overhaul that might include a gas tax “exceeding” $2 per gallon.

A significant portion of such a tax ultimately may land on oil producers, which means it cuts back on supply and exploration and, in a feedback loop, smacks the consumer right in the wallet.

We might as well be governed by rapists. These people are clearly insane. Funny enough, they probably don't realize that they could collect their government salaries and do absolutely nothing. What a gift that would be to us...even without repeals...just do nothing.

The person sitting atop the bureaucratic pile is not the issue. That person is a duly elected official, responsible to the voter. The problem is we have POLICY being made by an un-elected, unionized grey suit army. These federal employees are there for life. You cannot fire them. They move from agency to agency and they believe they are smarter than everyone. It's somehow their God-given right to tell the rest of us how to live. Please spare me the lecture on Administrative Law BLAH BLAH BLAH. Somewhere in everyone's gut you know I am right.

Given that Mankiw works at Harvard, and that there is a LOT of available public transportation in Boston-Cambridge, such as the fabulous Red Line and many bus routes that run through Harvard Square, ask the professor if he actually drives, or perhaps instead takes public transportation. If he takes public transportation, that might explain his out-of-touch cluelessness.

I'm happy to see that Mankiw has the courage of his convictions--given his view of the desirability of reducing fossil fuel consumption in order to prevent global warming, his position is entirely reasonable.

President Obama, on the other hand, who presumably holds the same view, thinks it's absurd to suggest that he is in favor of higher gas prices. And, of course, he almost certainly isn't--because he wants to get reelected.